Dispensing tube



Oct. 29, 1929. E, H, BARKER 1,733,712

DISPENSING TUBE Filed N'ov. 10, 1928 25951 -I 15 I '15 7 f ./zwemtof Edam@ farjf, EJ

Patented Oct. 29, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DISIENSING TUBE Application led November 10, 1928. Serial No. 318,335.

My invention relates to collapsible tubes for holding liquid or quasi-liquid or viscous materials.

One of the purposes of my invention is to reduce the cost of the tube by reducing the metal required for the threaded portion about the outlet of the tube.

A further purpose is to provide a thinwalled threaded metal tube discharge outlet 19 for a collapsible tube.

A further purpose Ais to provide a larger discharge passage up to the actual outlet than has been available previously.

Further purposes will appear in the specification and in the claims.

Figures 1 and 2 are a side elevation and a sectional elevation in the plane of the paper in Figure 1 of a tube embodying my invention.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary enlarged section through the threaded tube outlet showing the nearest prior art construction with which I am familiar.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary section of the i5 front end of a tube and the threading about the outlet, corresponding generally to Figure 3 but showing the present invention.

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation similar to Figure 4 illustrating the roller in position 53 for thread impression.

Figure 6 is a sectional plan vievvr taken on the line 6--6 of Figure 5.

Figure 7 is a sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Figure 5 and illustrating in more 33 detail the roller and its mounting.

In the drawings similar numerals indicate like parts.

I have preferred to show one form of my invention only, selecting a form which is practical, effective and very inexpensive and which at the same time well illustrates the principle of my invention.

In collapsible tubes the metal used for the side Walls of the tube is extremely thin and correspondingly Weakyandeasily injured, re-

quiring careful treatment and preventing the use of any tools in the o erations performed upon it which bring muc twisting stress upon the material of the tube. The metal used 53 is ordinarily pure tin. Where the content cannot be contaminated by the alloying metal considerable proportions of lead, for example, are used. The lead increases the tendency of the metal to twist with torsional strain.v and to tear if the torsional strain be localized.

The tubes are extruded almost instantaneously from a blank corresponding generally in shape to the breast of the tube but much thicker than it is, and in the prior art have been extruded in the form of a thickened neck 6 connected With a thin breast portion 7 and a much thinner body portion 8. The outlet 6 has been then externally threaded, so that the tube as it has existed in the prior art corresponds generally in external appearance with Figure l but has had a cut thread or a thread impressed from the outside with plastic movement of the metal from the thread grooves to fill out the ribs of the thread, and an `outlet of uniform restricted diameter shown at 9, the entire length of which outlet is often as small as it is desirable to have theinal opening 10.

The above construction has unnecessarily increased the length of the constricted passage at the same time that it has involved the use of a great deal of extra metal in the portion 6, with corresponding added expense. The finished tube Would be better if fuller outlet space were provided as at 9 and if the constriction were correspondingly shortened and limited to the ultimate outlet 10.

I have discovered that the outlet portion of the tube upon which the thread 11 is cut may be extruded in the form of a thin tubular Wall 12 having an exterior diameter smaller than the ultimate outside diameter 13 of the thread and, subject to suitable outside support of the thin tubular extruded member 11, the thread may be rolled out` into a suitable external support to give a threaded end corresponding With the threaded end shown in Figure 4. The extruded portion is formed initially in correspondence with the -dot and 95 dash terminal 14, closed at 15 and having an opening 16 extending far enough through the metal 17 so that when this end portion is cut oil' it leaves a limiting apertured outlet having an aperture 18 corresponding in size to 100' a predetermined outlet opening such as that shown at in Figure 3.

rIhough threading of thin metal such as ordinary tin-covered iron, familiarly called tin, has been common, and such tougher materials as brass and copper can be finished readily in thin threaded form of small diameter7 I believe that I am the first to successfully thread very thin metal of the character commonly used in the-se tubes and particularly of the small diameter shown, and that I am the first to produce a collapsible tube of the normal tin, or lead and tin, or similar composition, having a thin threaded portion of uniform thickness.

Some idea of the delicacy of the material of the collapsible tube may be formed by the thicknesses of one standard shaving cream tube which is upon the market and in which the body of the tube has a thickness of less than live thousandths of an inch and the breast of the tube has a thickness of approximately fifteen thousandths of an inch. Upon such a tube I have had great success with a thread formed in a nipple wall having a thickness of two hundredths of an inch. rIhese dimensions are given by way of example merely and not in limitation.

rlhe thread is formed by pressure and preferably by progressive rolling pressure. I

.consider it better to roll from the inside outwardly within a form. To illustrate this I show av roller 19 adapted to rotate about an axis 2O and at the same time to revolve about an axis 21, the roller being advanced or retracted with revolution so as to define and follow the inner intended contour of the thread.

The outer form 22 defines the outer thread contour. The diagonal position of the roller greatly facilitates the use of a' roller for this purpose relatively large as compared With the internal diameter of the thread. One direc- The form of thread may be made to correl spond with that previously used and, therefore, will be fitted by the same cap 23 as that used with the prior art construction.

I believe that I am the rst to form a thread in a thin metal wall of a collapsible tube by pressure and that I am the rst to roll a thread into such thin material, particularly into an outlet nipple of small diameter.

I believe that I am the first also to make the` Wall thickness of an outlet threaded nipple, integral with a collapsible tube, as small as or less than half the pitch of the thread and that VI am the first in such a construction to form any thread in an externally threaded outlet nipple for a collapsible tube in which ribbed and grooved inside to correspond with ideama the grooves and ribs, respectively, upon the outside.

My invention has made a tremendous sav ing in the cost of manufacture of tubes of this character reducing the amount of metal used in the tube by approximately fifteen or twenty per cent. I

In view of my invention and disclosure variations and modifications to meet individual whim or particular need will doubtless become evident to others skilled in the art, to obtain part or all of the benefits of my invention without copying the structure shown, and I, therefore, claim all such in so far as they fall within the reasonable spirit and scope'of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l. A collapsible metal tube of tin having collapsible body walls, integral breast walls connected therewith and an integral threaded dispensing nipple terminal of substantially uniform side wall thickness.

2. A collapsible tube of tin having an integral threaded dispensing tube terminal of uniform thickness, the thread of which is outwardly expanded.

3. A collapsible metal tube having an integral shoulder and threaded discharge nipple, the inner and outer threaded walls of the nipple being complementally ribbed and grooved.

4. A collapsible metal tube having an integral shoulder and threaded discharge nipple, the thickness of the metal of the nipple being less than half of the pitch of the threads and the thread in longitudinal section through the tube being sinuous to provide internal grooves and ribs to correspond with outer ribs and grooves. 

